Zoe Archer is wiping away tears as I meet her outside Drumlithie Village Hall.
The Mearns resident is just one of several who turned out as SSEN held its latest public meeting for the proposed Kintore to Tealing 400kV overhead line.
Zoe attended the event at Drumlithie Village Hall to get a better idea of how the development will impact her life.
She was reduced to tears as she saw designs showing how huge pylons would be built next to the rural idyll she calls home
The “horrendous” visualisations indicated the nearest pylons would be around 300 metres away from her house, and in the field next to her beloved horses.
Mum feels ‘cut off, isolated and scared’
A tearful Zoe revealed her property was formerly a ruin that took a lot of hard work to transform into a family home.
“I will see about five full height pylons at the back of my house,” she revealed.
Zoe is terrified of what the future holds if the project is given the green light.
“I just feel really cut off, isolated and really scared,” she said while dabbing at her eyes.
“I’ve had no communication, as soon as you email anything or ask a question you get nothing…”
Resident feels ‘stuck’ due to SSEN’s Mearns pylon plans
The visibly upset mum said moving was not a viable option for her family at the moment, and questioned who would buy their home once the pylons were in place.
“We can’t afford to move because we can’t buy what we’ve got somewhere else so we are stuck.”
Meanwhile, she fears the development will harm her equine family members too.
“I asked how they are going to construct it – and told them they are going to end up with a dead horse.
“They asked why and I explained it’s because they are flight animals.
“Their field is next to the pylons, if you come along with cranes and start digging, the animals are going to run through the barbed wire fences and try to escape.”
‘Pylons will march across the fields’
The exasperated mum added: “The pylons look so scary and will march across the fields.
“Some days it is so quiet you can hear a pin drop, there’s not a noise apart from the birds singing.
“It’s beautiful and so still.”
Added security measures ‘intimidating’ for visitors
However, the Drumlithie event raised some eyebrows for another reason.
SSEN employed security staff to guard the front doors, which they say was needed to protect its staff.
The firm claimed that high attendance at previous public meetings had resulted in venues exceeding capacity.
And, they say there had been occasions where staff had faced “threatening and aggressive behaviour”.
But, Tracy Smith of campaign group Save our Mearns believed the extra security was “bizarre” and “intimidating” for those attending.
“With so many members of staff and knowing how people have behaved at every consultation I have attended, I have never experienced any reason for there to be security,” she said.
“Even as a campaign group, we have quite a positive working relationship with SSEN staff.
“Just having one guard on the door you have to squeeze past them to get in, that’s not welcoming.”
Fears pylons will hit north-east tourism and agriculture
Addressing the overhead line, the campaigner added: “The cumulative impact of all of these renewable energy projects is frightening.
“The industrialisation of Stonehaven and the Mearns is a horrific prospect and I don’t think people can imagine how bad it’s going to be.”
Fellow group member Brian Wade branded the consultation process as an “absolute shambles”.
He added: “SSEN wants to drive pylons above ground, trash the place and affect the tourist industry and agriculture.
“People who have spent 30 or 40 years paying for their house now find that they are worthless, and there are a lot of people who are suffering mentally because of stress.”
Why is the overhead line needed?
SSEN argue the overhead line is part of a £20 billion investment to upgrade its network infrastructure to aid the transition to green energy.
Plans for the Fetteresso substation, that could almost be the size of Inverbervie, and overhead lines are expected to be submitted to Aberdeenshire Council later this year.
If approved, SSEN hope to construct the overhead line between 2027 and 2029.
The project would then be completed and go live in 2030.
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